DA chief orders transfer of suspended NFA supervisors’ authority

MANILA, Philippines —  The transfer of authority of suspended warehouse supervisors of the National Food Authority has been ordered by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. yesterday as NFA facilities remain closed amid the suspension order of the Office of the Ombudsman.

Department of Agriculture (DA) spokesman Arnel de Mesa recently confirmed that 79 warehouses of the NFA remained closed amid the preventive suspension imposed by the ombudsman on 99 NFA personnel.

De Mesa said that the priority of the DA is to appoint personnel in padlocked warehouses amid the possible deterioration of stocks.

“I don’t know the inventory but eventually we need to fumigate to ensure there will be no problem on the palay and rice (stocks). Once it is padlocked, no stocks will be allowed to leave or enter,” De Mesa noted.

Agri party-list Rep. Wilbert Lee said that the closure of NFA warehouses in Nueva Ecija has already resulted in the P2 per kilo drop in the farmgate price of palay.

“The farmers have no choice. They were even advised to bring their harvest to Pampanga. It will entail logistics. They will be forced to sell to local traders at lower prices,” Lee said.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires questioned the closure of the NFA warehouses amid the ongoing ombudsman investigation.

“The assistant regional director or the assistant branch manager, in case the branch manager is suspended, can always designate somebody to act temporarily as warehouseman. There is no need to close the warehouses,” Martires said.

He said it would be unfair to make it appear that the ombudsman’s suspension order against several NFA officials and employees hampers the operations of the warehouses.

“It only goes to show that, if they cannot designate people, the NFA is inefficient,” Martires said.

The NFA Council has appointed former Bureau of Plant Industry director Larry Lacson as officer-in-charge of the agency.

He said that the average buying price of NFA ranged between P16 and P19 per kilo for fresh palay and between P19 and P23 per kilo for dry and clean palay.

De Mesa said the NFA has a P17.2-billion budget for its procurement of palay.

Martires bared that there was a deliberate attempt by the